JAM 2012 – Jazz Crossing Borders and Cultures –
April and Jazz are here! We worked laboriously to prepare for Appreciation Month (JAM) in Montenegro. Our Program is diverse in its contents as the program joins the world-wide celebration of jazz music and culture. Our hope is to promote jazz and motivate younger generations of musicians so that they can become actively involved in music.
This year, the celebrations will last one entire month, from April 1st to April 30th. Six Montenegrin towns will be included: Podgorica, Cetinje, Tivat, Kotor, Herceg Novi and Pljevlja. The public will also have the chance to follow the programs via media coverage, which will be provided through our numerous media friends and sponsors.
From our inaugural JAM event to today, all the JAM events, including seminars and workshops, have been free for admission. We want young people, and the larger audience, to learn more about jazz and get involved in process of making it. Superb educators and performers help us achieve this goal, and the movie cycles, exhibitions, promotions, poetic and art performances and productions are there to give additional touch and facilitate the approach to the new art form of the 20th century. Finally, JAM provides a boost for the Montenegrin music scene. The new knowledge and fresh views expand our jazz potential and grow into many styles that have developed throughout the world. The initial experiences in this field are of great importance for the future of contemporary Montenegro.
The Jazz Appreciation Month in Montenegro 2012 shares the general motto Jazz Crossing Borders and Cultures and consists of several interconnected segments:
Educational workshop by Dena DeRose, head of the Vocal Jazz department at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz is a guest lecturer at the Vasa Pavic Art School of Music and Ballet. The public will have the chance to see her perform in a duo with Kristin Korb, double bass and voice, in Podgorica concert.
The concerts will be held throughout Montenegro: Radio String Quartet Vienna are the special guests this year. Three Montenegrin concerts are a worthy contribution to JAM. But, that’s not everything. Young and creative, Montenegrin jazz quintet Baltazar is also on tour, opening new horizons for our jazz fans. Mix of classic music and jazz is also on the menu: newly founded Clazz Quintet promotes contemporary classics with a jazz twist; the premiere performance of Picnic Suite by Claude Bolling will be their “ticket” to the JAM.
Book promotion: Mihailo Blam, great bass player and jazz promoter, is our guest with his book “Jazz in Serbia: 1927-1944”. We will also hear him play with his Montenegrin
Movie cycles this year are some great features exploring the subject of jazz and memorable for their jazz scores, but also documentaries. American Corner Podgorica helped select and coordinate the screenings in Podgorica, Tivat and Pljevlja. In Podgorica, the screenings will be accompanied by expert comments by Andro Martinovic, Nemanja Becanovic and Milos Pusonjic.
For the first time, JAM features the art photo exhibition by a well known Slovenian music photographer Ziga Koritnik: “Cloud Arrangers” in a great setting of the Center for Contemporary Art of Montenegro, Perjanicki Dom Gallery.
Our jam session partner this year is ethno-jazz club Sejdefa with MP Trio as the hosting band. Each Monday, the participants and guests of the JAM will be crowding Sejdefa.
Last but not the least, we will offer lectures on jazz, creative jazz readings of poetry, as well as informal events which will make the presence of jazz spirit visible and audible all over the place.
Please check out our calendar for further details on the program.
We are thankful for the support of our donors, partners, sponsors and friends who helped make us this event possible, despite the financial crisis. Special thanks goes to: Cultural and Information Center Budo Tomovic, US Embassy Podgorica, Austrian Embassy Podgorica, the Royal Theatre Zetski Dom Cetinje, Crnogorski Telekom, Embassy of Slovenia, Podgorička banka Societe Generale, Herceg Fest, Center for Culture Tivat, Center for Contemporary Art of Montenegro, Vasa Pavic Art School for Music and Dance Podgorica, Vida Matjan Music School for Elementary and High School Education Kotor, Merkur, Center for Vocational Education of Montenegro, Serbia Embassy, Sejdefa ethno-jazz club, Karver Bookstore, Habitat, Porto Montenegro, DPC. Great thanks to our media sponsors as well: RTV Atlas, RTV Crne Gore, Analitika and Cafe del Montenegro web portals, and the Vijesti, Pobjeda and Dnevne Novine dailies.